The SAM coverage amount applies to the total membership for the entire year. The IBM coverage is a "per incident" policy. Which one is best for you depends on the your need for insurance. If all you need is a certificate so you can show it to the venue you are going to be working in, get the one that is least expensive for you.

Most importantly, talk to your insurance agent about what policies they offer and compare them with the one size fits all magi-policies. Business liability insurance, even for performers, is not extremely expensive. Health insurance, well, that's another matter altogether....

Forging an insurance certificate is an idea so dumb, I'm amazed the guy who suggested it is able to write a sentence and sign his name.

Regular insurance companies/agents don't have a clue about liability insurance for performers. You have to deal with a company that knows what they're doing. Try:

Robertson Taylor (do a Google search on that name and "insurance"). They have offices in New York and London and specialize in rock tours. I've used them for world tours for all the rock bands I work with.

As the Svengali deck is riffled, one of the short cards accidentally shoots out and hits a small baby in the eye. As the child screams, the mother falls backwards knocking over a propane cylinder display. One of the cylinders cracks on impact on the concrete floor and sparks ignite the gas. It explodes setting off a chain reaction that causes all of the other cylinders to explode. The ceiling of the building collapses.

When all you're doing is pitching svengali decks, what could possibly go wrong?

Ah, you must remember that nothing has to actually go wrong............somebody just has to allege that something went wrong. Much of the insurance coverage sold is not used in damages paid, but in defense of real and "imagined" claims.

One of our local performers was doing a show at The Childrens' Museum. He asked for one of the people who worked at the museum to fill a pitcher of water for him. When the museum employee (volunteer) was on the way back, he spilled a minute amount of water on the floor. A visitor slipped on the water and claimed to be injured.

According to the contract the performer had signed, he, not the museum, was responsible for ANY accident and/or damages incurred as a result of his act, including the water the museum employee spilled on the floor.

The woman sued. The performer had no insurance.

Fortunately, when he called the SAM, they got him in touch with the attorney for their insurance company, who took the case on as a favor. His investigators turned up evidence that the woman who slipped on the water was a professional insurance scam artist. She went to jail. The performer paid the attorney the small amount he asked for his services, and now has insurance.

So, what can happen when you are pitching Svengalis? A passer-by can claim that you frightened her child and caused an irreversible trauma.

There are more crooks out there than you could even begin to know about.

One performer I know needed to borrow a chair for his show - a birthday in a home. The father got the chair and handed it to the magician - it being passed over the heads of the audience. As the magician took the chair he raised it to make sure it was well over the heads of the children - only to hit and smash a glass chandelier.

Pieces of broken glass fell on the audience - fortunately hurting no one.

Fortunately as well he didn't get sued.

Now if anyone brings anything to him before, after or during a show, be it a chair, a drink, a tray of tea and cake etc. he doesn't take it from them but says, "Please put it down there."

If a vendor requires insurance, you can take out what is called a special events endorsement for the date of performance through your homeowners insurance. For roughly $50.00 you can get $1 million dollars in liability. However, you will most likely need an incidental business endorsement on your homeowners policy. Keep in mind each state has different rules and regs according to the D.O.I. Check with an agent or a broker and read the fine print of the policy.

If you own a house, have any assets (money in the bank, mutual funds, stocks, etc.), or anticipate having such assets in the future, and do shows on any regular basis, you NEED liability insurance of some sort. Lord knows that I've seen my share of crazy claims (although none that would put me in the same league with Bob Farmer :D ) that were BS but expensive to defend. And then there is the situations where the magician legitimately screws up and the only real issue is damages. [Cut to the Youtube video of the guy who impaled a female spectator's hand on a spike by mistake. . . ]

Plus, the subject insurance is not only dirt cheap (by contrast, legal malpractice insurance can run into 5 figures if you want coverage into seven figures and OBGYNs can pay six figures) but also tax deductible. It's among the best couple of hundred dollars you'll spend each year - especially if you're unlucky enough to get hit with some claim.

I find that most of the clients I deal with are very pleased to find out I carry liability insurance, and indicate it gives them some peace of mind. All the resorts in my area insist on performers carrying it now.

I am glad I got the policy, but it was a royal pain to get it !

I applied for the SAM sponsored insurance in March, filling out the paper work and sending in my check. My bank showed that the check had been cashed in April. When it got to be halfway through May, and I still had not heard from anyone or received anything in the mail, I started writing emails and making phone calls.

It took until the end of JULY before I finally got a xeroxed letter from the carrier stating that I was covered. Total wait time to actually have a piece of paper in my hands that said "you are insured" was five months ! Although I was warned initially about a small wait , the time I actually had to wait went well beyond what those who tried to help me felt was acceptable.

Bottom line, I am glad it finally worked out, but I sort of wish I had gone with the IBM policy instead ! It wasn't the fault of the SAM, and they did try to go to bat for me, but the insurance carrier they are using really dropped tha ball. I never did get any response from the carrier as to why it took so long.

OK guys, here is a word of warning - The IBM insurance is really useless. I carried it for years, but almost every theater or entertainment venue I play or produce in now requires $2 million PER OCCURANCE. The IBM only offers $1 Mil. I asked them about writing an additional policy for me (as a policy holder) to fulfill my needs. They told me to go fly a kite.

Bob is right about general agents really not knowing what they are doing. I'll look into your guy Bob and see if he can offer something more competitive than what I currently have... Thanks!

OH, and I am also a licensed Life & Health agent, and forging a certificate is a Federal offense...

Here is a helpful point I read in my photographer's contract and another from a magician friend that saved me some headaches (i.e., using insurance or filing suit):

It read that if the film is damaged/pictures didn't come out to satisfaction (either artistically or technically) he was only liable for the amount of his services or portion thereof (meaning if he only produced half of the number of good pics or wasn't there for the full time specified). When I asked him about this he said some clients will claim you ruined their ENTIRE event due to bad photographs or not capturing a portion/aspect of the event and therefore want you to pay for their wedding, etc.

He said itemize your services when possible so if a portion is unsatisfactory you can easily deduct only that portion. I have had this save my fee when doing kid shows and other elements like late guests, bad cake, poor planning on their part resulted in me changing my act in time or content - or like in prior posts...the client just wanting to blame anyone so they imagined my service as part of the problem.

I also had a magician friend specify in the contract about acceptable changes in performing conditions or content (inside to outside, delays, unexpected sickness/death of animals, etc) due to either party's control and how that affects payment and liability. This was good advice. I got a traveling performing seal show for a circus theme party and I specified that the seal may not be allowed in the owner's swimming pool. It must stay in the performing area or the delivery tank (a trailer). At the end the guests enticed the seal into their pool (for further amusement) and it would not get out until the pool was drained and the trainer had to pull the seal out and back into its tank. No charge for refilling their pool and a brief discussion between the trainer and my client got more money for the added time trainer had to stay to get his seal back under control.

Even a paper cut can result in action. When bartending a party I have certain clauses if using glass vs. plastic and normal wear and breakage if using guest supplied items.